...more than once he brought up British death metal band Carcass. He seemed mostly charmed by their insane-sounding song titles ("Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites" was a favorite), but based on Beck's show at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday night, he also digs Carcass because, when given the chance, he likes to shred.

Nothing in Beck's catalogue has the same sort of buzzsaw growling as "The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills," but there were several re-arrangements of his classic tunes that added a new kind of six-string heft and double-kick-drum thump. Both "Devil's Haircut" and "The New Pollution" were riff-heavy and extra loud, and even the Midnite Vultures robo-funker "Get Real Paid" had some fresh Gary Numan-esque metallic sharpness.

It was the sound of Beck, ever the shape-shifter, tweaking his old hits and reinventing them however he saw fit -- though despite their new wrinkles, they still retained a fundamental funkiness that let him indulge in his best white boy dancing. - [EW]

For those worried the gentle nature of Beck's new album, Morning Phase, would mean we wouldn't get the fun, funky side of the singer on this tour, fear not. At last night's show at NYC's Hammerstein, Mr. Hansen divided his set into two halves: the first being songs from Morning Phase and other acoustic-oriented songs, and then the second half where the party started. Pictures and setlist from his Hammerstein show are in this post.

Tonight is Beck's second NYC show, this one happening at at Central Park Summerstage and is sold out. It, like last night and the rest of this run of the tour, is with Sean Lennon's The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger. Pictures of their set, and more of Beck's, below...

Got to the Hammerstein at 8:15 and had to wait on a ticket holders line for at least 45 minutes which caused us to miss the first band entirely. What the hell is that all about? The line was just as long when we got in at 9:00 so some people definitely missed the beginning of Beck. The Hammerstein sucks.